Emotional Victory

Flames beat Blue Jackets on night Gaudreaus honoured

By Ty Pilson

@typilson CalgaryFlames.com

December 04, 2024

As the pregame ceremony to honour Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew ended, Rasmus Andersson shared an emotional hug with their dad, Guy Gaudreau.

It was an extremely moving moment, one of too many to count on the sentimental evening.

It was fitting then that Andersson – a close friend and longtime teammate of Johnny’s in Calgary – would score the game-winner as the Flames beat the visiting Blue Jackets 3-0 Tuesday night at the Scotiabank Saddledome in what was, also fittingly, their 13th home game of the season.

After the goal, Andersson turned, faced and saluted with his arms in the air and a wave at the large group of Gaudreau family in the Flames owners’ box who had travelled to town for the night.

"There’s so much emotion going through your body," he said. "They know I love them. Me and my family will always be here for them. It was just very emotional, scoring."

Later, the crowd chanted 'Johnny Hockey!' as the seconds ticked down to the final horn in the victory, capping off an incredible outing.

Andersson and captain Mikael Backlund - who assisted the winning tally and was another close friend of No. 13s - were named the game's second and third stars, respectively.

They came out with Guy onto the ice sharing more hugs after the game as Johnny was named the game's first star.

"I got some goosebumps, that was great," said Backlund on the 'Johnny Hockey' chant. "A great moment. It was a very special, emotional night, and to finish off with the fans cheering his Johnny chant, that was great. Gave me some goosebumps, and made me feel how important, how much Johnny meant to the city."

Guy, accompanied by Andersson and Backlund, takes it all in

It was a moving pre-game ceremony, that included a rendition of Gaudreau’s Calgary goal song – Johnny G. Goode - performed by George Canyon.

Both teams stood on the ice to watch it, then gathered around each side of a red carpet as the Gaudreau family – wife Meredith and his children Noa and Johnny Jr., Guy, mom Jane and sisters Katie and Kristen – came out to a loud ovation and performed a ceremonial faceoff with Backlund and Columbus forward and former Flame Sean Monahan, who formed half of the dynamic Johnny & Mony duo here for many years.

"That meant a lot," said Backlund. "Been thinking lots about him. For him, too, moving to Columbus to be reunited with Johnny, they were so excited to get to play with each other; when I saw them at Mang’s wedding this summer, you could tell how excited they were, they could play together again. For Mony to have to go through that every day, it’s heart-breaking, been thinking a lot about him. It was great to share that moment with him, and to share the love and support for the family."

Tonight - and forever - we play for you

The Flames and Jackets honour the Gaudreaus

On to the game, an important one for the Flames who were looking to get back on track.

Kevin Bahl and Yegor Sharangovich also scored for the Flames, while Dan Vladar made 16 saves in a tight defensive game by the homeside for the shutout.

It was Calgary's sixth straight home win and comes after a road trip in which they went 0-3-1, including a 5-2 loss to the Blue Jackets in Columbus on Friday.

The Jackets, meanwhile, came in on a roll, going 5-0-1 in their last six.

"I thought our team played really well," said Backlund. "Pretty much the whole game, I thought we played really solid. It was a big, must-win pretty much for us, after a tough road trip, coming home. Been playing really well at home, we got back to the way we know we can play. We’ve got to keep that going now."

Monahan won the opening faceoff and got the first shot of the game, holding the puck on a 2-on-1 and rifling a wrister that Vladar deflected high.

Martin Pospisil had to take a faceoff after Nazem Kadri was waived out of the circle, winning it back to Andersson who skated down the wall and fired a pass to Pospisil that he tipped on Merzlikins, then getting his rebound but denied on his second attempt as well as he skated across the crease.

Zach Werenski appeared to open the scoring 4:11 in when he beat Vladar low but the Flames challenged and after review, the goal was overturned.

Vladar made some big stops in the opening 20, including two in rapid succession on Kirill Marchenko and Werenski.

Jonathan Huberdeau used a few players to snap a wrister on a rush early in the second that beat Merzlikins but not the post behind him.

Pospisil was later denied on the doorstep again, putting himself in position for another great chance.

With Justin Danforth off for a slash on Brayden Pachal, Andersson stepped into a howitzer of a one-timer at 10:14 of the second after some hard work by Kadri to keep the puck in the zone.

He got the biscuit to Backlund, who then made the perfect feed to Andersson for his sixth of the campaign.

Andersson goes top shelf and shares the moment with Johnny's family

Kadri drove the net hard between two Jackets four minutes into the third, the puck swept away by Kevin Labanc but Huberdeau grabbed it alone and tried to tuck a backhand home but Merzlikins got his left pad out to deny him.

Backlund would tip in a Andersson point shot with 7:31 to play in the game but the Blue Jackets challenged saying Calgary was offside and after review, it was overturned.

Bahl would score on the powerplay with a wrister from the point – Huberdeau parked in front to screen Merzlikins – with 2:07 to before Sharangovich added a late empty-netter.

Kevin scores his first as a Flame to pad the lead

Guy gets the game puck